2170V - Caregiver Coaching with Culturally Valid Language Interventions: A Model for Spanish-speaking Families in Early Intervention

This session is developed by, and presenters invited by, Language in Infants Through Preschoolers. Latino families make-up growing population in the U.S.; yet culturally-valid interventions are limited, and many SLPs lack the background or training needed to serve this group. VALI (an IES-funded development project) aims to affect communication with a technology-based intervention—using coaching to increase caregivers’ use of naturalistic language intervention strategies. This session will describe the results of two studies where caregivers provided feedback on app-based materials and received video-based coaching from a bilingual SLP. Initial observational, survey, and interview data suggest that VALI is feasible, culturally acceptable, and perceived as useful. Attendees will identify ways they can apply the process used to develop VALI to their work with families from cultural and linguistic backgrounds different from their own.